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Ventricular arrhythmias (VA) are common after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation especially in the early postoperative periods. Although, the risk factors for the development of VA are not known Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the development of VA is associated with higher number of comorbidities and risk factors in patients with LVAD Secondary data analysis was performed using National Inpatients Sample (NIS) from 2016-2018. Diagnosis of LVAD were identified (02HA0QZ) using ICD 10 PCS codes. VA was defined as ventricular fibrillation (I49.01), ventricular flutter (I49.02), ventricular tachycardia (I47.2) 2116 patients underwent LVAD implantation. 1046 patients developed VA and were likely to be males (80.19%), white (61.71%). In-hospital mortality was higher in patients with VA at 10.04% compared with 7.75% (p = 0.06), Table 1. Patients with iron deficiency anemia and hypertension were statically more likely to not be associated with development of VA (p = 0.02, p = 0.01). Risk factors with highest odds ratio for development of VA were GI bleed (OR 1.40, 95% CI 0.74-2.64, p = 0.31) and RV failure (OR 1.32, 95% CI 0.63-2.78, p = 0.46) but not statistically significant VA remains common following LVAD implantation and has a higher mortality rate although not statistically significant. Prevention remains difficult in the absence of statistically significant risk factors. Careful clinical monitoring and identification of higher risk patients should be partaken to improve clinical outcomes
Dixit et al. (2024) studied this question.